//------------------------------//
// Supplemental Files-1 
// Story: Crystal Star 
// by MaxFlames 
//------------------------------//

{PROJECT ID: Sunset Glimmer}

[Opened by Xcom Commander : Redacted]

This project has been created to handle an Unique Alien captured on April 2nd, 2015.

That day, at about 1pm, the research on the alien material now known as “Meld” was finally being presented to the Commander and Officer Bradford, but before the major decision about what to focus our time towards was able to happen an electromagnetic shockwave centered over the east coast of The United States of America, which caused rolling blackouts across the entire continent (The issue was somehow repaired by 6:30pm). Seconds later, a series of alien fighters descended onto the location the shockwave was centered on. We sent two Skyrangers to the location, and arrived after most of the fighters were destroyed thanks to the United States Military. Unfortunately, our soldier’s luck ran out then as they were ambushed by the X-rays known as “Thin Men”, and after most of the fighting ended, a pair of soldiers lost their lives and one was heavily wounded. Soon after, there was the live captor, which I now almost wish was simply a kill. The Creature, currently without an official designation and will go under the temporary coe name of UC (Unknown Creature), was apparently found next to a crushed Thin Man, and was distracted long enough to be taken care of with our Arc Throwers, and transported to our base. The other base staff will place their important information into this project.

-Personal Notes (Remove before submitting report)-
The Council had better not hear about what happened today, or I’m going to have them breathing down my neck asking why I’m keeping it alive when it’s containment is decimated. I need to get together a good explanation, and nope this “gut instinct of mine” was right this time.

PROJECT ID: Sunset Glimmer

Attached notes by: Dr. Moira Vahlen

{First Impressions: Thin Man}
-From their remains they seem to be highly human-like in appearance, and given they seem to have clothing, seem as if they are meant for infiltration
-They have reptilian-like scales at the base of its neck, and reptilian eyes as well, bringing many more questions to mind about these creatures
-According to a soldier that, supposedly, got into a melee battle with one, they seem to have a poisonous cloud they can shoot out into a range, like some form of natural gas grenade. Whatever causes this also produces this poison upon this creature’s death, which the soldier only survived thanks to their Medikit (Personal Note- Figure out how that actually happened)

{First Impressions: —-}
-This Creature has no current designation, so I will refer to it by the Arconim “UC” (Unnamed Creature)
-It has odd similarities to a miniature horse in size and shape but with significant differences listed below (I will use various Terms that relate to equine for this reason). We currently don’t understand the significance of these similarities.
-It has a coat color of lavender, and a multicolored mane and tail of various shades of purple and or a shade of pink.
-It has a singular horn on it’s upper forehead that has circular markings on it in its entirety. This will be elaborated on later
-It has a pair of wings that seem to be used for passive soaring, except for the fact that they seem too small to lift the weight of the creature. This may be some sort of unused evolutionary change, but I can not be certain.
-There is a symbol on both of it’s flanks of 5 six-pointed stars, and another one larger than the others with another six points coming from angles formed by the star. This is one of the higher points of speculation, as it could be any number of things, from a designation for the aliens, an indication of rank, an equivalent of a human tattoo, or any other number of possibilities. Perhaps it even has some form of Cultural significance. This will be something for significant research later.



“With all due respect to everyone in the Xcom organization, but today has been an utter mess. The “UC” was brought to the base and I began the examination like I usually do as soon as a new captured alien is brought in. At first I thought it would be a normal operation to pull off, given it even has the same minor scarring from whatever bizarre operations the aliens do to them like the others did. Unfortunately, as we got to the interrogation chamber, it began to somehow wake back up, so we had to rush to get it in. After we started the interrogation, its horn began to glow purple and it managed to destroy the control arms, and though we have exact knowledge of how much force it applied to them, it was well over a ton of pressure, from how the metal was crushed and torn. It then managed to “Teleport” out of containment. Scientist personnel fled the lab, and later on the alarm system malfunctioned and it ran. During the chase the soldier who chased after it said that at one point it managed to stop their movements entirely and run past them, though it is not known if it physically stopped them or if it was something along the lines of the fear that sectids are able to manifest. It managed to be forced into a temporary containment, and I volunteered to make a shock collar for it, though now I know I should have assigned it to Shen. Though in my absence others have learned many new things about the creature. It seems to be able to consume apples without any harm happening to it, and it appears to be intelligent, as it has been able to replicate words and images for basic communication, which is quite intriguing, seeing as it has a very animalistic form. What is more interesting, is the simple fact it is actually attempting to communicate with us in the first place. This a contrast to all known specimens of the x-rays (Discounting the claim of a Thin Man swearing at a rookie after it was hit, as that is not proper communication), which seem more than happy to blast at us without a single question or order to freeze. This presents an opportunity to learn about the alien's motives, tactics and language, thought this all may take some, intense “Persuasion””

-Personal Notes (Remove before submitting report)-
Shen is in deep shit now. How was it that the control arms managed to fail from this creature, the specific alarm for an alien escaping failing as well, and the other alarms being that loud! And after all that, he still has the gaul to perform a “Test” without any of the research staff there! Not that they would be any help right now, given they are CURRENTLY ARGUING ABOUT WHAT IT IS! At this rate we might be able to perform an autopsy of the Thin Man just in time for the aliens to raise their flag on the final country. Why does that thing look like that, and why is it so god bizarre with it’s abilities. And most of all… Why is it here?

PROJECT ID: Sunset Glimmer

Attached notes by: Dr. Raymond Shen (Majorly unedited)

Given Vahlen seemed like she was going to throttle me after finding out that I did my own experiment on it, I might as well write down my thoughts before she gets me. (After a bit of review, I feel it best to explain that this is a joke)

The current alien captive subject, which I shall call a Cerapter, is something that looks like a toy horse brought to life as flesh and blood. Vahlen may not say it, but I’m sure that she too would agree that it looks Cute adorable interesting, to say the least.

If I were to make any theories on it, I would hazard a guess that this creature is some form of alien pet, quite possibly for a general, if the aliens have that form of leadership. This explains the large amount of craft heading to the location it was found in. It also seems to be easily frightened, given the killed Thin Man near it, suggesting it hasn’t personally seen many of the aliens in their forces. As for its capabilities, I can’t explain any of it better than to say it is simply magic (Giving Vahlen more reason to kill me for that line) (That was also a joke).

The most surprising part of it for me, other than the magic, is it’s intelligence. It has been able to understand games from us without instruction, suggesting they have a similar version, and have been able to understand how we act enough to try to calm down Rookie Squaddie Lawrence… Don’t actually know his last name. It also was able to ask for more apples without any teaching, meaning that actual communication may be possible, though it might be like talking to a translated dog more than a person. I wonder how it would sound to talk with a Translated dog Anyway, I feel as- {File stopped here as he left for they day}

PROJECT ID: Sunset Glimmer

Attached notes by: Central Officer John Bradford {Audio Transcript of videos filmed by [Redacted By Request]}


7:58PM
“WHY THE HELL IS THERE A HORSE IN MY OFFICE?”

8:05PM
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T REMOVE IT?”

8:07PM
“IS IT SLEEPING ON MY SWEATER?”

8:28PM
“WAIT, IT’S AN ALIEN! WHY IS THERE AN ALIEN IN MY OFFICE?”